


beautiful, ephemeral, like a dream

by mildlydiscouraging



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bands, Alternate Universe - Bar/Pub, M/M, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-07
Updated: 2014-10-07
Packaged: 2018-02-19 07:26:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2379845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mildlydiscouraging/pseuds/mildlydiscouraging
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phil gets dragged to a bar with shitty local bands playing, but one of them isn't so much shitty as he is completely breathtaking. And maybe Phil has a bit of a crush. Maybe...</p>
            </blockquote>





	beautiful, ephemeral, like a dream

**Author's Note:**

> i'm getting better at summaries!! i think?
> 
> title from the description of my favorite ambient piano album, "[polaroid piano](http://schole.shop-pro.jp/?pid=18105504)" by akira kosemura, which is what i imagine dan plays like, but with more words...

Dreary nights have their own feeling. When there's nothing better to do than let yourself be dragged through the rain to some bar your friend heard of online, and you're perfectly content to let yourself listen to the amateur acts go by in the corner of the room, enjoying the casual conversation of a close friend.

That's where Phil finds himself one Friday in March, sitting in a bar somewhere and sipping whatever fruity beer he's been convinced to try as the shitty band in the corner slowly drives him out of his mind.

Cat is sitting across from him, telling him some outlandish story from her trip to New York last month, and really he wants to listen seeing as she's only in town for one more night, but the out of tune wailing coming from the tiny stage is overpowering any kind of thought.

They've been sitting there for a good half hour when the lead singer mutters a thank you into the mic before slouching off, guitarist and keyboard player in tow, and Phil lets out an audible sigh of relief. The other acts hadn't been that bad, what you'd expect of a tired Friday night, but these three had been their own particular brand of terrible.

"Were that really that bad?" Cat asks as she swivels around on her stool to watch the next person set up. "I thought they were kinda good, if a little under-prepared."

Phil is busy side-eyeing her so hard when there's a cough from the stage and turns to see whatever sad hipster is up next.

It comes as a bit of a shock when said sad hipster is possibly the most attractive looking human being he's ever seen. Sure, he's wearing an ungodly amount of black, and Phil can't tell what he's saying when he introduces the next song, he's mumbling so much, but there's no denying he's good looking. Even from the bar, Phil can see his brown eyes sparkling from under his hair, and the more he looks at his hands on the keyboard keys, the harder it is to eventually tear his eyes away.

When he does eventually look up, it's to see Cat looking at him with a knowing smile on her face.

"What?" He says defiantly, ducking his head to drink his beer and avoid eye contact. Suddenly the warped wood of the bar is incredibly interesting, look at all those swirls and whatnot...

"Nothing," she says as she turns back around to face the small stage, "just that I've just got the feeling you're gonna end up liking this act _way_ more than the last."

He rolls his eyes and is about to reply when the soft sounds of the keyboard travel through the shitty speakers above their heads and dear god are they beautiful. Even Cat is transfixed as the melody of the keys gets more and more elaborate before slowing down, and the second the man starts singing, Phil is completely gone.

His entire set all flows together, and not in a bad way, where the songs all sound too similar that they all seem like one really long one. No, whether it's the fact that he only awkwardly introduces the first few songs, or because they're all beautiful and flowing piano pieces with soft words over top, all the songs seem to go together, and it's way too soon when he awkwardly waves goodbye and clambers off stage.

At that point, Phil has to shake his head a little to bring him back from whatever world he'd gone off to, and when he does come back, it's to see Cat with that same smile on her face.

"Lost you for a bit there, huh?" She smirks and pats his hand. "Well, I'm gonna head out, gotta get some sleep before my flight tomorrow, but just a heads up: pretty eyes piano boy is headed this way."

Phil doesn't have time to ask her what she means before she's sweeping out the door and there’s an awkward cough coming from beside the newly vacant seat next to him.

"Sorry," and oh no, his voice is just as amazing when he's not singing, "is this seat taken? There's not a lot of other spots, but I can move if..."

"No, it's fine, you're fine," Phil shakes his head as he cringes at himself in his head.

The man, not seeming to notice Phil's internal meltdown, nods and pulls out the stool before sitting down and ordering something, Phil's too distracted to notice what (his eyes are even more pretty up close, oh god).

"So, that your girlfriend?" He asks, and it takes Phil a second to realize he's being spoken to. It takes him another second to realize that several minutes have passed, as the stranger had ordered a drink and drunk most of it while Phil had been spaced out and staring at his face. Nice going there, Phil, totally nailing that "don't look creepy" vibe.

"What, Cat? Oh god no," he replies, shaking his head vehemently, "no, she's just a friend. Nope, I'm depressingly single at the moment."

Phil's mentally slapping himself in the face when the other man laughs, raising the rest of his drink halfheartedly as he says, "Cheers to that," before downing the rest of it.

"Um, so, I thought you were really great up there," Phil says as he awkwardly taps his fingers against the side of his own glass.

The man (Phil really ought to get his name eventually) ducks his head and blushes, although Phil can't be sure because of the low lighting and all, and he really shouldn't get his hopes up, but...

"Thank you," he mumbles quietly into the wood of the bar. "I didn't think anyone was really listening, to be honest. I only went up there because my friends needled me into it. Conveniently enough, they couldn't even be here, so at least I didn't make a fool of myself in front of them."

"No way did you make a fool of yourself," Phil says a little louder, always defensive of people tearing themselves down. "That was absolutely beautiful, I loved every single second."

The man laughs and it's the most beautiful thing he's ever heard until a few seconds later when he says, "Well, thank you, handsome stranger. I'm Dan, by the way."

And when Phil introduces himself and they shake hands, they start talking about how the other performers had sounded, which ends up with them in a two hour long discussion of pretty much everything under the sun.

Over the course of the conversation, they both learn a lot of things: how Dan's never really performed in front of anyone besides his parents before, why Phil doesn’t have anything to do on a Friday night, each other's favorite colors (black and green, respectively), favorite band (both Muse, much to their excitement), how they each think the world is going to end, what their favorite cat videos are, and everything else in between.

In fact, their conversation is so long and intent, they don't even notice the rest of the patrons leaving until the bartender takes their glasses and kindly says that he's sorry but he has to ask them to leave so he can close up.

They leave the warmth inside and go out into the cold and quiet air, standing in awkward silence as cars drive past every so often and spray up dirty gutter water from the rain earlier. Phil isn't sure if this is the end until Dan grabs his hand when the door swings shut behind them.

"I had a really great time tonight," he says as he puts his hand back in his jacket pocket, "which sounds like a really cheesy first date kind of thing, but you know what I mean."

Phil nods, hoping his blush can be passed off as being because of the sudden cold, and says, "Yeah, me too. So..."

Fumbling to pull out his phone with his already frozen fingers, Dan smiles and asks, "Do you think I can maybe get your number?" before offering his phone, Adventure Time background and all.

Upon seeing the background, of course, Phil laughs a little and taps in his number before handing it back to Dan, who'd been awkwardly shuffling from foot to foot.

"Guess I'll be seeing you sometime then," he says as he starts to walk backwards. "Maybe I can teach you how to play one of my songs, since you somehow liked them so much."

"Good luck with that," Phil snorts. "I've got the fingers of a chubby twelve year old."

Dan waves his hand dismissively, saying, "Nah, your hands are beautiful, you'd do just fine." He totally would've pulled off casually flirty if it wasn't for the fact that right as he finishes saying that, he trips and almost falls in the gutter.

Phil laughs, still blushing a little, and waves goodbye as Dan picks himself up again and waves back, embarrassed face visible in all its glory under the warm glow of the solitary street lamp.

Just as he's turning around and is walking back to his apartment, he gets two texts, one from an unknown number saying "don't laugh at me, clumsiness is a real impairment", and another from Cat asking "so, that guy any better than the other band?" accompanied by several winky emojis and hearts.

He's smiling as he pulls his hands out of the safety of his pockets to type back two replies; “i’m sure it is” and "you have no idea". And despite the cold rain that starts pouring as he's still quite a few blocks away from his apartment, and the teasing but well meant reply he gets from Cat, there's a warm feeling settling in the pit of his stomach that has nothing to do with the alcohol and everything to do with the bar. And probably the people there as well. Maybe just one person though...

**Author's Note:**

> u guys rock!! thanks for reading this!! i love you!!
> 
> tumblr @[dweebhowell](http://dweebhowell.tumblr.com)


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